Summer Internship with Kshitij Horizons — Abhishek from KIIT University

July 30, 2012

Wildcard Entry for: – 29th July 2012

Name of the intern: – Abhishek

Institute: – KIIT University

Organization interned with: – Kshitij Horizons

It was around 11th January that I started searching for an internship around my city just to get a healthy experience out of life and to also earn a fair stipend during my leisure time. I also posted my resume on various websites in search of the same.

Meanwhile I was on the verge of completing my 2 years in Orissa now Odisha and was pretty attached to the place but was equally hurt by the poverty and illiteracy of the people present around. I could never imagine that at the same place where we used to call ourselves as civilized and sophisticated there used to live people around who were not educated enough to read the MRP written on various products they used to buy on a daily basis and hence were cheated openly adding to their miserable poor condition. I seriously wanted to do something for them rather than doing something for myself.

Then one day fortunately I got a mail from Kshitij Horizons which is an NGO working in tribal areas of Bhubaneswar for the downtrodden. I was pretty interested by their motto and motive “Fill the gap with education”. They wished me to work with them for 2 months during my vacation and teach some tribal children nearby. They were also paying me Rs. 2000 per month for my service.

I reported there on the 1st of May where we were divided into groups of 6 and were supplied with books, stationery and other necessary instructions. My group consisted of 4 guys and 2 girls and we left for the spot. Just after we reached there I found out that the children there knew no other language than Oria. Now that was a problem for me as I myself didn’t know the language properly. So we decided to subgroup ourselves into 2 members in each group having at least 1 person fluent in Oria.

There I was grouped with one girl named Anjali; Oria by birth and in her 2nd year of graduation in Arts . She was a very cute, attractive girl with a great smile, voice as sweet as anything and equally talented. I was pretty sure that the children would be very much attracted by her presence and was also very happy to have her as my group mate.

First we introduced ourselves to the group of 30 odd children, surprisingly none out of which had the benefit of primary education. We first explained to them the basic need for being educated in front of their parents and told them how many problems their parents faced because of lack of education and motivated them by quoting different examples of people who reached from rags to riches only through hard work and education.

Then we started our session from the next day and told them that we’d serve chocolates at the end of every day and would also show them movies on my laptop in the intervals just to ensure their interest and regular presence. First we taught them the basic English alphabets, then words and their respective meanings. The children there were intelligent beyond my expectations and were learning things very quickly and that too with interest.

As expected, children became familiar with Anjali. She was very devoted to her work, calm, cool and patient, never annoyed when someone didn’t understand things even after her repeated efforts. It was a serious pleasure working with her and also to watch her working with young kids. I used to teach the kids basic Mathematics that is Number System and Basic arithmetic. I often used her as a translator when it used to become difficult with the language. We worked there for 6 hours a day which included 4 hours of study and 2 hours of fun. Both of us used to have lunch together and meanwhile played movies for the children. I didn’t know why but I was getting more and more attracted to her. Her presence filled me with great energy and working was no less happening then having fun. She even made me learn a lot of Oria during that period. We really were having a great time there.

60 days passed in a jiffy and it was time for the internship to end. We told the students that they would be given a test and the high performers will be rewarded. Finally, the Kshitij people tested them and to our surprise the students of our batch outperformed the other batches. I and Anjali were very happy with our efforts, so were the camp organizers and the parents of all 30 kids.

I don’t know why but tears came into my eyes on the departing day. I hugged each of the students and finally hugged Anjali. Tears were quite noticeable in her eyes too. Departing is such a painful thing to do in this world. We wished the children all the best for their future, promised to visit them regularly during our leisure time and returned to the office. Our certificates and stipend was ready.

The event head wished us luck and we left separately for our destinations… I don’t know why but walking was getting more and more difficult with each step as if something was burying my legs into the ground. I stopped suddenly, took out my phone, called Anjali and without thinking anything told her about my feelings towards her. I told her that I was in love with her. And guess what the reply was: “I was waiting for this call and I knew it would come, I love you too honey!” I got her, I got the love of my life! I thought god has given me the best stipend in lieu of my service to mankind.

With that Rs. 2,000 I had planned many things to do but couldn’t as I donated 1,500 to my maid towards the setup of a school in her locality and bought a beautiful shawl for my mother with the rest… one year later, having Anjali by my side remembering those days automatically gives me goosebumps. I could have asked for nothing more from god with my first internship. Really, those were the best days of my life! Hail Kshitij Horizons!

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